I should have made a left at Albuquerque!

My cousin Johnny and I recently took our yearly vacation together. This time, we drove all over the state of New Mexico, one of the very best states for Roadfood.Friday June 5, 2009Flying from Pittsburgh to Albuquerque, I had a 3 1/2 hour layover at Chicago's Midway. Usually, I just grab a dog here. But having more time on my hands, I grabbed a table at Harry Caray's instead. This allowed me to sample one of my favorite Roadfood dishes, Chicken Vesuvio.Obviously, the version you get at the airport is never going to be as good as the one you would get at the original downtown location. But, this version was surprisingly quite good. The chicken was nice and tender and it had the essential strong garlic punch. Good stuff! Maybe I was just swayed by the fact that I actually received real silverware this time, instead of the plastic knife and fork they gave in the past. The side of pasta, with the heavy, gloppy sauce and undercooked shells were only worth two bites until I gave up.I landed at Albuquqerque International Sunport (they call themselves a sunport?) about 40 minutes before Johnny. We had two dining options, either Powdrell's BBQ or Sadie's. I called the phone number of the Powdrell's location listed on the Roadfood review and there was no answer. Google gave me another location and I called that number. They said they were open until 9:30PM. Once Johnny landed and we collected our luggage, I asked him where he wanted to go. Surmising there would be no shortage of New Mexican food on this trip, he thought Powdrell's would be the better option. So off we went. After parking, we hurried into the first building we saw, which was an unusual, round brick building.(I took the above photo as we were leaving.) As you can see from the sign, which I managed to walk right past and not even notice, this is the take-out building. Johnny and I were looking at the menu board and the nice lady behind the counter told us that if we wanted to sit down and eat, the restaurant was still open. This sounded much better than eating off the hood of the car in the dark, so we headed to their front door.

On the way, you pass this sign and this sign. Even though Mr. Powdrell passed away late in 2007, it is very obvious that this is still very much his place. The restaurant was closing in about 15 minutes, but we were still greeted in a friendly manner and sat in the main dining room, which sure looks like it was the living room in this former house. From our table, we had a nice view of the stairs.Johnny, a lover of all things combo (a common theme you see throughout the trip), went for the chicken, brisket and ribs combo.As you can see, all the items came heavily sauced, which we are generally not fans of. Luckily, the excellent sauce here is sweet, with a little bit of heat or it would have been a problem. All three of the meats had a noticable smoky taste, with the bbq chicken being Johnny's favorite. His two sides were the greens,which he described as being a bit tart and the creamy potato salad.I went with the hot link sausage sandwich, which also comes heavily sauced. The sausage had no heat at all, but had a nice snap when you bit into it and plenty of meaty flavor. The roll, not too soft, with a good chew, was also first-rate. Here is a side view of the sandwich.For my side, I got the beans, which were a disappointment. These are pinto beansand I much prefer the sweeter bbq beans instead. I wouldn't make much of a cowboy, not liking pinto beans would I?Because we had gotten there so late, we were their last customers of the day. Despite this, we were still treated as special guests by our waitress, the hostess and by Mrs. Powdrell herself, who was the lady at the take-out counter. I did ask about the other Powdrell's BBQ location and she told me it is temporary closed for renovations. After buying a bottle of that yummy sauce, we were out the door.Powdrell's BBQ 5209 4th Street NWAlbuquerque, NM505-345-8086http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/353-353/powdrells-bar-b-que

We did eschew dessert at Powdrell's BBQ, because I had another stop in mind and we quickly made our way to 66 Diner. If you have never been here before, this place looks great at night with all the glittering neon. Unfortunately, I cleverly failed to take an outside photo. But the inside is pretty cool looking, too. BTW, those are pez dispensers lining the top shelf on both sides. We looked over our dessert options. Seriously, don't they have anyone with better handwriting than that?I got the ball rolling with an Elvis milkshake.The peanut butter taste was so strong, that it completely overwhelmed the banana. Who knows, maybe they just forgot to put the banana in. Still, a fine milkshake. To eat, a piece of blueberry crisp pie. Need I say more?Johnny, a man who knows his way around a dessert menu, started off with a strawberry shake, a slice of the creamy and light peanut butter pieand finished it off with blueberry cobbler. Pretty impressive eating there!66 Diner1405 Central Avenue NEAlbuquerque, NM505-247-1421http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/450-450/66-dinerWe checked into our hotel for the night.Much more to come.....

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/24 13:53:21
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Saturday June 6, 2009When checking out of the hotel around 7:30AM, I noticed that the front door had been smashedsince we had arrived late the night before. Apparently some drunk decided kicking the door would be a good idea. I asked the desk clerk, "Did that happen late last night". He replied, "No, that happened this morning. About an hour ago." The guy was drunk and acting up at 6:30AM? Unbelievable!A little less than a hour and a half later, we made our first stop of the day, for a Green Chile Cheeseburger at The Owl Bar & Cafe in San Antonio, NM. This is one of the coolest looking Roadfood places from the outside, with the one color scheme and the owl art.On the inside door is this sign, looking for a lost pony. We don't have signs like this back home. The song Wildfire started playing in my head. The inside of the bar has lots of things to look at. Police patches from all over the country decorate one area. The are also hundreds of dollar bills lining just about every available inside wall. A sign on our table explained what they do with the money.No surprise that much of the interior is decorated with an owl theme.We did briefly look at the small menu.They do offer breakfast, but we were definitely here for the GCC. And we were both quite happy with what we were served:I took several shots from different angles and there is no green chile visible in any of them. Trust me, it was loaded with them. This shot I took of Johnny at least shows a few.This is not an oversized burger, which is just fine. The chile had both plenty of heat (though not overly so) and loaded with great flavor. It was also the type of heat that sneaks up on you. You know, the kind that as soon as you say, "Oh this isn't hot at all." And then suddenly, there it is. This was the hottest GCC we ate on the trip.We also tried a couple of sides. The onion rings were crunchy, but they still tasted prepackaged to us. Better was the green chile cheese fries.This is the first time I have tried this dish. The green chiles on here were just as excellent. Unfortunately, the juice made the fries themselves limp and lifeless rather quickly. We loved this dish right after we got it, but less so as the meal went on.Our waitress was a senior citizen with a wry smile, who seemed to enjoy all the picture taking going on. This place is quite famous, so I'm sure she is used to it. She wasn't very talkitive, but certainly wasn't unfriendly. I think that was just her nature. Before we left, she brought over souvenir menus and bumper stickers for us to take home, which we appreciated.Before we left, Johnny and I put dollars bills on the wall, too. The waitress brought us black markers and thumb tacks. If you go to The Owl, look for our dollars. Johnny put his just above our booth, the second one on the left as you go in. Mine is in the back, right next to the Corona sign.The Owl Bar & Cafe77 Highway 380San Antonio, NM505-835-9946http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/3612-3518/owl-bar

Since I needed to buy a map, we stopped at the convenience store next door. While in there, we bought some of the really creamy fudge (peanut butter for me, rocky road for Johnny) and some wonderul cherry cider. We asked the clerk about which GCC she preferred, The Owl or the other famous place in town, The Buckhorn. She did not even hesitate and said the one at The Buckhorn was better. Having also read that in the Roadfood forums, we crossed the street to The Buckhorn, with the intention of getting a GCC to go. Unfortunately, it was only 10:00AM and it didn't open for another hour. So we got back on the highway and headed east towards Carrizozo.Much more to come.....

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/24 16:22:23
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I have to say I am really enjoying your trip through one of my favorite states. The food looks wonderful. But I have to say as a pony owner I can't imagine loosing my beloved pony Molly! I sure hope they find him/her soon. Allison

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/25 11:49:16
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Saturday June 6, 2009 cont.Shortly after leaving San Antonio, we came across this historical marker.Being at the Trinity Site is definitely a Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore moment. Just before reaching the town of Carrizozo, the scenery became especially rugged, with lots of interesting black rock formations.This was the Valley of Fires National Recreation Area, which reminded us of the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.The reason we were headed to Carrizozo was to meet up with respected Roadfooder rouxdog (Dean). We called him when we reached town and he directed us to his place. Dean has a ranch on the outskirts of town and he had a reception committee waiting for us.The top two are Dixie and Duke and the second photo is of Scooter. As you can see, these are some highly trained guard dogs we are talking about.Dean could not have possibly made us feel more welcome. He introduced us to his wife Nancy and gave us a tour of his lovely adobe house and his ranch. Here are some of the scenery on the ranch.Hopefully, he will chime in and tell the interesting story of where he got that Pacific Northwest Native American symbol that is in the above photo. I asked Dean to pose for a photo next to a skull.Above and beyond, he gave me a booklet he made up of some interesting stuff. Included in here was tourist info on the local area, directions, printed out Roadfood reviews of the places in the area and photos of his prized bull. This obviously took a lot of work and I was very appreciative of the gesture. If that wasn't enough, he also gave us a big cardboard box of local products. This included chiles, pistachios, quail eggs, local cider, a six pack of Alien Amber Ale from Roswell and other assorted goodies. This was incredibly generous of him. I do have some photos of this stuff, but I haven't downloaded those yet and will add them in later. I am always astonished what good people I meet through this site.Okay, time for lunch. We got in our car to follow Dean into town. Then we found out how Scooter got his name. I swear we were doing 35mph in the driveway and that dog was running in the grass beside us. It was unbelievable!

Lunch was at the local bar/restaurant, The Outpost. Here is Johnny and Dean chatting outside.No mystery what they are well known for, which is fine with us.The Outpost was extremely dark on the inside and decorated with all kind of animal heads.I don't remember being given menus, but the menu board is easy to see from our table.Dean went for the Hamburger Steak, which looked quite good. All three of us liked the golden fries that came with his meal.Of course, Johnny and I got the Green Chile Cheeseburger.Here it is with the roof off.This one didn't seem to have as much green chiles as some other burgers we had on the trip, but still had the real good green chile flavor. And it was a healthy sized burger, too. This place is well worth a stop and Johnny and I give it a thumbs up!After finishing my burger, I said I was going to get up and take some photos. Instead, I walked to the bar to try and pay the tab. But the girl was slow and Dean was on to my tricks. He walked over and insisted on paying for lunch. Thanks again Rouxdog for the hospitality, you are a 100% class act!Outpost Bar & Grill415 CentralCarrizozo, NM575-648-9994We drove around the town a little bit, with Dean showing us the sights, but it was soon time for us to go. We said our goodbyes and Johnny and I continued east towards, Roswell.Much more to come.....

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/25 14:13:13
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Saturday June 6, 2009 cont.As we approached Roswell, Johnny and I discussed whether we should eat first or visit the Alien museum first. Well of course, the food won out and we easily found La Posta, a place that Chris & Amy (ayersian) reviewed for Roadfood. Fortune smiled on us, because the restaurant closed just a few minutes after we entered. In fact, we were the only customers during our visit.The inside is small, with counter seats, tables and booths. We selected a table next to the window, so I could get better shots. It sure was nice to be eating in a place that wasn't so dark for a change. Hopefully, my food photos will be better from here on. We started off with our meal with the fine chips and salsa (surprisingly mild heat) and horchatas to drink, which Johnny described as rice pudding in a glass. As soon as I saw the flautas listed on the special board, I knew that is what I would be ordering. These were so crunchy that after one bite, the shells just fell into small pieces. Loaded with chicken (I could have also gotten beef), these were quite good. Captain Combo got a taco, flauta and (I believe) gordita combo, with the loaded with fresh ingredients taco being the best of plate. But Johnny's favorite thing here was the chiles rellenos, which was extra cheesy and smothered in green chile. This was excellent!The staff was friendly and Spanish is definitely the main language spoken here. Our waitress was relieved to find out we were paying in cash, since their credit card machine was broken.La Posta109 North Delaware AvenueRoswell, NM575-625-6726http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Review/4981-5009/la-posta

We continued into downtown to find the Alien museum.Much more to come.....

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/25 23:34:51
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Captain Combo? That's pretty good. My crime-fighting code name is Captain Carnivore; do you think Johnny and I should apply for membership in the Justice League? BTW, great report and photos, BB. Those green chile cheeseburger pics are driving me crazy... I'm dying to try one.

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/26 10:16:50
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Saturday June 6, 2009 cont.Finding the UFO Museum and Research Center in downtown Roswell is not very difficult. The exterior isn't exactly subtle.On the way in, I had my photo taken with one of the security guards.The woman at the register seemed amused at my hometown (Mars, PA), but I still didn't get a discount.The first half of the museum is dedicated to the supposed crash of an alien craft on a ranch near Roswell and the apparent military cover up afterwards. There is also all kinds of alien art work,supposed photographs of UFOs and testimonies about close encounters. You also get to see what an alien autopsy would look like.We spent an enjoyable 1 1/2 hours here. Johnny remains skeptical. As for me, I live in Mars and we have a spaceship in the center of our town. What do you expect me to think?The entire town of Roswell has embraced the alien theme and you see signs of it all over the place. Here are a couple of store fronts we noticed.I really wish we had more time to explore Roswell, as it seems like a cool, quirky town. But, I had to get to our hotel room in Carlsbad early. My hockey team, the Pittsburgh Penguins were playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and the game started at 6:00PM. We checked in on time and my team was losing 1-0 after one period. We then ran out to catch a quick dinner.In the 2005 Roadfood book, Jane and Michael Stern wrote about a Dairy Queen in Carlsbad that had really good barbecue. I did a little bit of research and the owners left the Dairy Queen name, renovated the building and it is now called Danny's Place. It sure doesn't look like a Dairy Queen, inside or out. Our meals started with big tumblers of iced tea. Considering how much beverage I usually consume during a meal, I love getting these lumberjack sized glasses. BTW, without exception, every time we ordered iced tea on this trip, it came unsweetened.

So far on the vacation, we had received excellent service everywhere we have been. Since I was in a hurry tonight, trying to get back to the hotel to watch the game, we had a teenage waitress who was slow and indifferent. Luckily, the food made up for it. This was some really good 'que! I went for the pulled pork sandwich, which came in a burger diaper. Here is a better look at the tender meat under the bun. Johnny's combo this time consisted of brisket, sausage and pulled pork. I had several pieces of the juicy sausage, which he didn't mind since he loved the falling apart brisket so much. This photo is kind of blurry in spots, but it shows the crispy, charred edges and the beautiful smoke ring. He also gave the potato salad a thumbs up.

We hustled back to the hotel, passing an ice cream shop, only to find my Penguins were getting crushed 5-0. I sat there and yelled at the tv for the rest of the game. We never did go back out for ice cream.

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/26 14:08:19
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I'm so glad you went to the UFO Museum--Roswell is a very fond memory of mine, and I love how they've embraced what they're infamous for. Unfortunately I think we ate at a Denny's or something while we were there. And it's good to see the museum hasn't changed in about ten years. :)

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/06/30 14:14:12
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Sunday June 7, 2009The reason we spent the night in Carlsbad was to get an early start for a morning of spelunking in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The drive in to the visitor's center was quite pretty.We messed up, because we wanted to take the Natural Entrance Tour, but ended up taking the Big Room Tour. The main difference is that we took the elevator down rather than the twisted walkway. No big deal. The big room has about a mile of reasonably lit walkways past many stalagmites, stalactites and other cool rock formations. Here you can get a good look at the lit walkway and my ugly shorts. These are called lion's tails.There were several small pools of water.A ladder leads down to the room below. For more adventurous people than us!Besides, I was too busy coming up with a name for the bat I plan on adopting.Truly, a gift for the person who already has everything!

We spent a good 2 1/2 hours underground and thoroughly enjoyed what we saw. They did have more advanced park ranger led tours, but I am slightly claustrophobic and there are plenty of spaces I don't fit into now, that I used to. Back in the visitor's center, we grabbed something to eat. It wasn't lunchtime yet, so we had breakfast burritos, mine with sausage and Johnny's with bacon. These were actually good for national park food and a real bargain at $3.45! Here is my tray, that also included more of that delicious local cider and a granola parfait. Johnny swears there were raisins in his parfait, although I don't remember any in mine. For his sake, I hope those were raisins!" />Next stop was crossing the border into Texas and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.We stopped at the visitor's center and watched a movie about the park and all its beautiful scenery. But this is an almost exclusively hiking park. And neither one of us were up to doing long hikes in the almost 90 degree weather. This pose of Johnny's kind of clued me in of what he thought of a long hike.Still, we were able to see some pretty scenery nearby.We continued west towards El Paso.Much more to come.....

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/07/01 00:36:45
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GREAT REPORT! But---- I gotta go back to day 2. Let me see if I understand this correctly--- You checked out of your hotel around 7:30AM and"Less than a hour and a half later, we made our first stop of the day, for a Green Chile Cheeseburger at The Owl Bar & Cafe in San Antonio, NM." ???????? " />" />You're eating GCC's and Green Chile Cheese Fries for BREAKFAST???." />" />" />You'ze Guy's are my heroes! This qualifies you to be included in a White Paper Presentation at the next Gastroenterology Convention!BTW-- I think you've cemented Johnny's new handle for posterity. He shall forever be known as "Captain Combo"!

Re:I should have made a left at Albuquerque!2009/07/01 16:08:51
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BB, I love that Captain Combo nickname! Priceless! You and Johnny have surely done yourselves proud on this one. I'll bet the final list of RF stops will match your weeklong sojourn through Texas last year! How many pies will be destroyed in your path, sir? How many??!!